Olympic Games – Men’s Singles – The sensation: Novak Djokovic eliminated in the semi-final by Alexander Zverev

Novak Djokovic will not perform the “Golden Slam” at Steffi Graf in 1988. Winner of the first three Grand Slam tournaments in 2021 (Australian Open, Roland Garros, Wimbledon), the Serbian champion can still achieve the calendar Grand Slam if he wins at the US Open in September. But whatever happens, he won’t add Olympic gold to it. As he had been walking since the start of the week and seemed more than ever on his way to gold, he fell in the semi-finals on Friday against Alexander Zverev (1-6, 6-3, 6-1 ).

The German cried about it. After a final winning backhand on the match point, he took his head in his hands, as if he didn’t believe it himself, before bursting into tears. It’s a hell of a feat for Zverev, who is therefore one step closer to the Olympic Grail. He will face on Saturday, for the gold medal, Karen Khachanov, the shooter of Ugo Humbert. The Russian dominated quite quietly in the first semi-final the Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta (6-3, 6-3).

6-1, 3-2, break, then the black hole

However, during a set, Novak Djokovic seemed to go to apply the house price, like all the others. 6-1 in 37 minutes. The score was certainly severe for Sascha Zverev, who had repeatedly hooked the boss of the circuit on his commitment, without being able to materialize. A fatal flaw against the now twenty-time Grand Slam winner. Nothing seemed to be able to derail the almost too well written scenario of this semi-final. Even less when Djokovic broke in the second set to lead 3-2, serve to follow. No one then could have imagined what was to follow.

All it took was a break (a break), just one, for the switch to take place. From there, the fight has totally changed soul. Novak Djokovic would lose eight straight games to end up 4-0 in the deciding set. He has actually won only one of the last eleven games. A spectacular collapse. Is it physical? The world number one, hollow face, in any case seemed to take ten years in one evening. Either way, he didn’t exist in the second half of the game.

Dropped by his serve (only 56% of points gained behind his first ball and 37% on his second serve), then gradually overwhelmed in the exchange by a solid Zverev, Djokovic once again saw his dreams of the Olympic title fly away . Bronze medalist at the age of 20 in Beijing in 2008, the Serbian has been chasing gold ever since. Only 4th in London on the Wimbledon Center Court, released in Rio by Juan Martin Del Potro after a memorable match, he seemed to have his best opportunity in Tokyo. It is (again) a failure.